Meet Report: 2022 Tennessee Challenge

I ran this past weekend in Knoxville at UT’s Tennessee Challenge. There were fewer competitors than I had expected, but I still had a good field with me in my events.

My pre-meet routine was disrupted this time around: first of all, I had a poor week of sleep leading up to the week. Second, Knoxville is a bit far from where I’m staying, so I slept in a hotel and wasn’t able to eat my normal raceday breakfast (4 scrambled eggs and a piece or two of toast). And I drove around campus for a half hour looking for visitor parking. I did end up at the meet in good spirits though.

100m: 10.82 (+1.6)

• 10.82 is tied for my second-fastest wind-legal mark and my third-fastest all-conditions mark.

• That said, my race execution was somewhat disappointing:

  • I made the mistake of adjusting my blocks a step back after my practice start and didn’t get another runout. Once I got set, I knew I was in the wrong position. In retrospect, I should have raised my hand and adjusted it back, but in the moment, I just let it go.
  • Because I was worrying about my block positions, I wasn’t focused in set and had a poor reaction to the gun.
  • I got tight towards the end of the race, and my legs were too far behind me.

• Overall, I finished fifth in my heat. I’m happy that despite the poor execution, I was still able to set a fast mark for me. I think a similar effort last year would have been in the 11.0-11.1 range.

200m: 21.58 (+1.3)

• 21.58 is just 0.03 off my PR from two weeks ago, though the wind conditions were much more favorable here.
• I had about 60 minutes between races. Despite the relatively cool weather, I didn’t recover as well as I have at previous meets.
• I had a really good start—I ate up the stagger on the runner to my outside.
• I held the lead until about 120 meters, but started to fatigue and tightened up again especially after 150.
• I finished third in my heat.
• I’m pleased with this result—despite many (metaphorical) headwinds I was still really close to my PR.

NCAA meets are starting to thin out as championship season approaches, so I’m going back-to-back and competing next weekend in Cleveland, TN at the Lee University Last Chance meet.